Possible US Immigration problem for UK cruisers

[speedwell]

I sailed on the Millennium out of Fort Lauderdale on April 25th and I have just discovered that the "Departure" section of the Visa Waiver form is still in my passport.

The Departure Record should have been removed at check-in, but obviously was not. This may have been a "one off" error, or it could apply to the considerable number of UK passengers on this cruise.

It seems that failure to to surrender the Departure Record could cause serious problems if I returned to the USA to join another cruise.

The US Embassy web site [url="http://www.usembassy.org.uk"]www.usembassy.org.uk[/url] has a section dealing with this problem.

I have asked Celebrity to send me a letter confirming that I left the USA on the 25th and I will send this and the Departure Record, to the US Immigration authorities.

Hope nobody else has this problem, but perhaps it would be wise to check your passports.

Speedwell

[Moeve]

The departing Authority must have stamped your passport?! Had that happen too but as I had a stamp in my machine readable passport from the Departure airport in this case Chicago I have had no problem since and been backward & forward several times. If your passport is machine readable they scan it anyway on your way out. However if this all still gives you a bad night make an appointment with the Visa dep of the Embassy in London (give them a call first they may even be able to help you on the phone) and they will surley help you.

[Elaine0138]

This seems to be a common problem happened to my sister twice when leaving the US once when they flew out of Florida and the other when they crossed back into Canada.
The time they flew out from florida wasn't to much of a problem as they just sent there airline tickets, but the second time they have had to send copies of time sheets from work and the attendace records from the school for the children.
So just worth checking the passports before leaving immigration

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=008080&cdt=2004;11;5;16;30;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Summit 5 Nov


Elaine

[speedwell]

Moeve

The passports were not stamped on the way out. The only time they were inspected was at the Celebrity check-in desk.

We didn't need the passports again until boarding the plane in Barcelona for our flight back to the UK.

If the Celebrity check-in staff made an isolated error then that's not too bad. However, if someone does not realise that the Departure Record should be taken and returned to the Immigration authorities then that is a problem

Speedwell

[Moeve]

Speed -how recent was this trip? If it was in the passed couple of months then the US agencies know exactly how you travelled as now days in particular the cruiselines have to pass on all this kind of info 72 hrs ahead of time. I think you would be quite suprised at what kind of info your gov has to pass on to US Agencies for you to qualify for the Visa Waiver. In the case of EU Passports it even includes such data as your religion. But as I have already said to put yourself at ease give the Embassy a call. I am sure they will help. Keep us posted though it would be good to hear what becomes of your case.

[speedwell]

Moeve

We sailed on the 25th April 2004.

I realised that the departure records had not been removed when I got home, and then found that this problem was highlighted in a UK national newspaper last weekend.

It seems there have been "dozens" of cases reported to the paper of "difficult" immigration officers at JFK and long delays (or the threat of being sent back to the UK) for anyone whose departure record had not been returned correctly.

The US Embassy in the UK takes the matter seriously and has detailed instructions regarding what should be forwarded to the US to enable the records to be updated. However, I'm informed that it cannot update the records in the UK.

I am sure that my problem will be resolved, but the intention of this thread was to bring this potential problem to the attention of anyone who travelled under the Visa-Waiver program.

[Moeve]

Speed isn´t is suprising all the fuss they make considering all the details they already have on us - and it is going to get worse after Oct with photos & fingerprints at the airports. It doesn´t really seem logical when one sees all of us are travelling on passports while a large number of their own citizens leave their country on the equivilant of a scrap of paper with a seal (their birth certificates)on it.